Zuckerberg on Charlie Hebdo: Facebook will protect free speech

Zuckerberg said that a Pakistani lawyer petitioned to have him sentenced to death in 2010 because Facebook was hosting blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. In one of the worst terrorist attacks in France’s recent history, several masked men stormed the headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Wednesday, killing 12 people, including two policemen. Facebook has refused to take down content deemed offensive by religious groups several times in the past.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, responding Friday to the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo, vowed to make Facebook a place where people can speak freely without fear of violence.

“Yet as I reflect on yesterday’s attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject — a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Facebook has refused to take down content deemed offensive by religious groups several times in the past. Pakistan blocked Facebook in 2010, after the company refused to take down a contest prompting visitors to draw the prophet, which is considered blasphemy in many Muslim communities. However, the Pakistan ban was lifted weeks later, after Facebook blocked the content for Pakistani users. The service is blocked in several other countries, including Iran and China. Zuckerberg on Charlie Hebdo: Facebook will protect free speech